Trump only makes room for the conspiracy theories that help him: analysis

President Donald Trump looks on as he speaks to members of the media aboard Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, March 29, 2026. REUTERS Elizabeth Frantz

President Donald Trump's reaction to the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham has exposed a lot about how his mind operates, including his cynical use of conspiracy theories that forward his plans over all others, per a new analysis from MS NOW.

In the wake of the South Carolina Republican's abrupt passing, many eyebrows were raised by a statement from FBI Director Kash Patel that the bureau would be assisting local officials in investigating the case. This led many to speculate about why such high-level law enforcement would even be necessary for a case where, as far as anyone could tell, an elderly man died from a heart issue. In turn, this also led to conspiracy theories about there being more to Graham's death, including the possibility that he was poisoned by Russia during his recent Ukraine trip.

Trump, meanwhile, seemed uninterested in all of that when pressed about the FBI's involvement during an Oval Office meeting, calling it a "waste of their time."

"I don't know why because I think he had a problem," Trump said. "I don't see a lot of evil there. I know there's all sorts of conspiracy theories going around. I think the FBI is wasting their time."

Writing about the remark for MS NOW on Wednesday, longtime producer and contributor Steve Benen suggested that the president's comment would soon lead the FBI to abandon its involvement in the Graham case, and also called out the irony of Trump wanting the bureau to stay focused on his preferred conspiracy theories.

"If recent history is any guide, the president’s comments are likely to cause the Trump loyalist [Patel] to reverse course and abandon the bureau’s involvement," Benen wrote. "What Trump did not say, however, is that he wants the FBI to continue to waste its time on his own conspiracy theories, which are unrelated to Graham’s death."

Benen included a link to another MS NOW piece from earlier this month, digging into the ways in which Trump's long-debunked conspiracy theories about the 2020 election being stolen from him have permeated his second term.

"A willingness to entertain or outright embrace 2020-style election fraud conspiracy theories has become a litmus test for entry into the Trump administration’s upper ranks — and once there, is just as often the surest way to survive," the report detailed. "When an official’s standing starts to slip — a bad news cycle, a sidelining, a looming firing, a confirmation fight — one of the few levers left is to be seen vindicating the president’s conviction that American elections are being stolen whenever he or his party lose."

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